had already reserved them for Mr. Brown of Beauharnois, who intended to provide loyalist militiamen with guns and provisions in the next few days. Father Marcoux agreed with this action because he felt that by leaving for Lachine, the young men were placing their village in a vulnerable position:

George de Lorimier leur (Indians) a dit qu'ils ne devaient pas partir ainsi sur la voix du premier venu, qu'ils n'avoient d'ordre de recevoir que de vous (Hughes). Il leur a dit ce que je leur [aurait] dit moi-même si j'eusse été averti, car si le premier venu prend les commandes [...], les commandements seront contradictores et ne causeront que du désordre, et de la confusion. Les jeunes gens, pour avoir un fusil [...] [ont] sacrifier leur village. [...] On a dit aux Sauvages de rester tranquille chez eux, pour protéger leurs femmes, leurs enfants, et leurs animaux [...] [Ils] sont menacés [...] s'ils quittent le village, pour aller se battre ailleurs. Ces menaces ont encore été répétées ici avant hier, par un Patriote qui s'en allait à Chateaugay. Il est bien vrai que le gouvernement peut les indemniser de leurs pertes, mais les femmes et les Enfants qui seroient victimes de l'imprudence de laisser le village sans défense, qui les leurs rendrait? (Marcoux to Hughes, 14 December 1837, NAC RG10 vol. 94: 38850-3, my emphasis)

Marcoux also stated that George de Lorimier was not well liked by many people, including James Hughes, and that had this not been the case, he could have helped reduce the state of confusion in the village by being the only person in Kahnawake to receive and transmit government orders (ibid.). Yet Hughes accounts that despite George de Lorimier's claims, the chiefs, accompanied by [war chief] Ignace [Delisle], harangued the young men and brought over 120 men (Hughes to Napier, 14 December 1837, NAC RG10 vol. 94: 38851). Praising Delisle, Hughes holds that over 40 were armed, the rest had no guns (ibid.). In his opinion, many more would have crossed if George de Lorimier [had not] ordered them (young men) out of the bateaux (ibid.).

In the next days, the people of Kahnawake gradually returned to their daily lives and did not hear of Papineau's People until the following November. Yet relations between the Iroquois and most of their non-Native neighbors did not improve for the better. For instance, as a result of the 1837 insurrection, Kahnawake chiefs were not able to collect their rents from the Canadian settlers living on the seigneury of Sault-Saint-Louis. To the great displeasure of the village council, this frustrating state of affairs persisted until 1838 (J. Baby to Napier, 14 December 1837, NAC RG10 vol. 94: 38834).

Kahnawake and the Patriotes in 1838

Following the defeat of the Patriotes in December 1837, new insurgent leaders initiated work on a second uprising. On 3 November 1838, Patriote leader Robert Nelson arrived in Napierville and issued a declaration of independence. In an attempt to obtain Native support, Nelson claimed that the Indians shall no longer be under any civil disqualification, but shall enjoy the same rights as all other citizens of Lower Canada (in Great Britain 1969c: 250; see also Bernard 1988: 302). However, this article seems to have gone completely unnoticed by the Native communities of Lower Canada.

On the night of 3 November, Patriotes assembled in places such as Beauharnois, Baker's Camp, St-Constant, Lacolle, and Châteauguay. The exceptionally thick Châteauguay Patriotes (Greer 1993: 348) were led and assembled by Joseph-Narcisse Cardinal, Joseph Duquet and François-Maurice Lepailleur. The first was a notary and was well known by Father Marcoux, who once described him as follows: ecuïer notaire, membre du Parlement pour le comté de LaPrairie, et, ce qui vous le doit recommander par dessus toutes choses, Patriotissime (Marcoux to Turgeon, 12 Novembre 1833, ADSJQL 3A-143). Indeed, Cardinal had been an aggressive Patriote since the early 1830s and had been instrumental in the organization of the second uprising. Cardinal was also very familiar with Kahnawake resident Jarvis McComber (Great Britain 1839: 30) as well as with interpreter Bernard St-Germain: Cardinal had married St-Germain's daughter Eugénie in 1831 (Lorimier 1988a: 161). Joseph Duquet, a law student (Filteau 1988), was known by Kahnawake residents Jarvis McComber and Charles Giasson. Duquet also knew Ignace Delisle, from whom he purchased hay (Rochon 1988: 135). Lepailleur, a bailiff from Châteauguay, was known by George de Lorimier, Ignace Delisle and Jacques Teronhiahere (Great Britain 1839: 33; 46).

Overall, the Châteauguay Patriotes agreed among themselves that some men would disarm and capture local loyalists and bureaucrats while others would attempt to persuade the neighboring people of Kahnawake to provide weapons or remain neutral (Boissery 1995: 56). Following the Kahnawake expedition, the Patriotes would march on Beauharnois, and, with other insurgent companies, attack the LaPrairie military barracks (Leclerc 1983; Senior 1985). Moreover, it is said that the insurgents intended to march on the village...